S54 Vanos Info Thread

[Yeetus]

Genuine BMW is best. OEM timing bridge and crank pin is about $150. I offer them for rent in the member services section if you are interested. They will be available in two weeks.

Is there anything else needed? I appreciate the offer but im impatient and want the car back on the road.

[Titaniu//M]

The toolset linked is out of stock, any other decent ones?

Genuine BMW is best. OEM timing bridge and crank pin is about $150. I offer them for rent in the member services section if you are interested. They will be available in two weeks.

[Yeetus]

The toolset linked is out of stock, any other decent ones?

[JamesSJ1]

Yeah, if you're following the Beisan procedure, that's the order of operations. What I encountered, and it sounds like LukeM as well, is that our timing was so off already that manual retarding with the splined shafts in place ccould only get us so far.

+1. Never done it any other way, but it still seems like there is a lot of negative pressure there keeping the shafts from sliding out. Intake side always seems willing to release quickly, and exhaust side is hanging on tight.

[Seagull]

On removing the vanos unit or retarding the cams or exposing the splines, one thing that helps a lot is removing the solenoid and the sealing plate from the unit first. That allows any oil/air to evacuate from the vanos unit and compress the pistons easier. Otherwise you could be working against closed solenoids while trying to compress a liquid , and oil has nowhere to escape to easily.



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Yeah, if you're following the Beisan procedure, that's the order of operations. What I encountered, and it sounds like LukeM as well, is that our timing was so off already that manual retarding with the splined shafts in place ccould only get us so far.

[JamesSJ1]

Is that really random or does it happen almost always? I hear a similar sound when the engine is hot occasionally and on shut down. Don't really hear it while idling like yours. Is that sound the vanos rattle or is that what you're trying to chase down?

Maybe I should say "randomized." It always happens, but it is not a consistent frequency. That helps eliminate a host of things with moving/spinning parts (like the vanos sprockets or cams) and more likely something like chain slap or a piece of something bouncing around on the chain (not in my case, but say a chunk of upper chain tensioner or a exhaust hub tab).

[mrgizmo04]

On removing the vanos unit or retarding the cams or exposing the splines, one thing that helps a lot is removing the solenoid and the sealing plate from the unit first. That allows any oil/air to evacuate from the vanos unit and compress the pistons easier. Otherwise you could be working against closed solenoids while trying to compress a liquid , and oil has nowhere to escape to easily.



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[mrgizmo04]

Yeah, exhaust spline shaft is longer to account for protrusion of the hub tabs, so swapping them intake to exhaust would result in different amount if adv/ret travel than what the system expects.

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[Seagull]

I’m in the middle of this using all besian parts and Lang bolts. When I fully retarded my cams before disassembly I couldn’t get the cam alignment pin inserted into the exhaust cam. It went into the intake cam correctly. I’m assuming my engine was slightly out of time. Hopefully no issues timing it correctly.

to get the vanos unit off the head I used a paint scraper to slightly separate the unit and then I pry’d slightly with a plastic pry tool. Just like others stated and it worked great.

Hey man,

As an anecdote, I just did my VANOS with Besian everything. Turns out one of my hub tabs was broken. I also could not get the camshaft retarded to the point where I could get the alignment pin in before disassembly. Even further, when I went to remove the splined shaft from the exhaust cam/hub I was unable to! I had to remove all the hub bolts to get the hub to rotate enough where the splined shaft could come out. I could tell driving before the repair that something was wrong. Now, when I went to put everything back together, when the splined shaft is out you can rotate the cam freely and align it before you reinstall the splined shaft. I followed Raj's guide but also used Fatboys video with the tip on finding the sweet spot for inserting the splined shaft to get the most travel out of the system.

FWIW I have about 50 miles so far and no troubles. I have also noticed a dramatic difference in the powerband. Before repair I had no low end power then @ 3k RPM it would blast open like NOS. Now it's super smooth whole way through.

[MFANTIK]

Long story made short (despite consciously noting which spline shaft does where), I found out what happens when you flip and install the spline shafts...fortunately it wasn't a "hard" mistake...just hours of rework. DIS adaptation failed almost immediately at +7 degrees on the exhaust check. The VANOS came off with difficulty again...but 10+ minutes pulling while tapping with a rubber mallet as suggested got me the space I needed to more work it apart from there until I could get get wrenches in there. Still confused why mine is so hard to pull back vs. any video or description, but it's been that way much of my life with this car (MrGizmo witnessed it once).

In other news, with everything put back together, following Beisan instructions to a T, I can now say my adaptation came back at 0.2 and 0.4 degrees, which I think puts that in the range of "perfect." Anything closer is just dumb luck.

I'll be opening another thread to share why I was doing the anti-rattle kit in the first place (did Beisan seals and oil pump disc years ago) and how it didn't do anything for my problem. Short version...the random rattle noise, most noticeable at 21-30 seconds in the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY-toVFeEFQ

Is that really random or does it happen almost always? I hear a similar sound when the engine is hot occasionally and on shut down. Don't really hear it while idling like yours. Is that sound the vanos rattle or is that what you're trying to chase down?

[JamesSJ1]

Long story made short (despite consciously noting which spline shaft does where), I found out what happens when you flip and install the spline shafts...fortunately it wasn't a "hard" mistake...just hours of rework. DIS adaptation failed almost immediately at +7 degrees on the exhaust check. The VANOS came off with difficulty again...but 10+ minutes pulling while tapping with a rubber mallet as suggested got me the space I needed to more work it apart from there until I could get get wrenches in there. Still confused why mine is so hard to pull back vs. any video or description, but it's been that way much of my life with this car (MrGizmo witnessed it once).

In other news, with everything put back together, following Beisan instructions to a T, I can now say my adaptation came back at 0.2 and 0.4 degrees, which I think puts that in the range of "perfect." Anything closer is just dumb luck.

I'll be opening another thread to share why I was doing the anti-rattle kit in the first place (did Beisan seals and oil pump disc years ago) and how it didn't do anything for my problem. Short version...the random rattle noise, most noticeable at 21-30 seconds in the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY-toVFeEFQ

[LukesM]

I’m in the middle of this using all besian parts and Lang bolts. When I fully retarded my cams before disassembly I couldn’t get the cam alignment pin inserted into the exhaust cam. It went into the intake cam correctly. I’m assuming my engine was slightly out of time. Hopefully no issues timing it correctly.

to get the vanos unit off the head I used a paint scraper to slightly separate the unit and then I pry’d slightly with a plastic pry tool. Just like others stated and it worked great.

[JamesSJ1]

Are you able to use the 24mm to retard the cam?

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yes. Rock back and forth to get it to work it's way out? Now that you say it...I think that was the trick I forgot about and didn't see/read anywhere when I was working at it last weekend.

[mrgizmo04]

In doing the anti-rattle kit, I had a hell of a time getting the VANOS to actually slide back so that I could get room for my wrenches in there and separate the splined shafts from the VANOS. Any special trick to this? I hate trying to pry anything in between there to force them apart and damage the mating surfaces.

Are you able to use the 24mm to retard the cam?

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[eacmen]

In doing the anti-rattle kit, I had a hell of a time getting the VANOS to actually slide back so that I could get room for my wrenches in there and separate the splined shafts from the VANOS. Any special trick to this? I hate trying to pry anything in between there to force them apart and damage the mating surfaces.

Put the two long VANOS bolts in the top two mounting holes and tug harder while tapping the vanos with a rubber mallot or dead blow. Do not pry!

Only tool I use is a paint scraper on the two corners to initially separate the vanos from the head.

If you have a *plastic* pry tool set that is the only thing I would think of using to get in there and twist to get the VANOS off.


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